In this episode, Shireen Smith discusses the importance of brand protection in marketing. Surprisingly, less than a third of agencies register their names as a trademark. This suggests many designers and others who offer branding services have little appreciation of the relationship between brand creation and brand protection.

The ramifications of not registering a trademark are many:

• You have no recourse if you have not used the name in business. So once you choose a name, register it for your brand.
• Registering a company name or domain name won’t give you any protection and you don’t own the rights to the brand name unless you register a trademark
• Securing your name as a word trademark is the priority and you can then register a logo, tagline, music and packaging or other elements of your brand later
• Trademark registration gives you power. If a big business wants to use the same name, they’ll often offer money to buy your trademark if you have legal title.
• The trademark registry in the US will not allow registration if there is any conflict with an existing trademark
• Laws in the UK and EU are not as stringent
• It’s advisable to use a trademark professional in the first instance as it is easy to get it wrong
• It costs ten times as much to deal with a complication as it does to register your name in the first place
• China is a case in point if you manufacturer in China secure local trademark protection to avoid your brand being hijacked
• Trademark is just one way in which you protect your brand. Another is copyright which is hugely relevant and will be covered in depth in the future.

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